Apparently, My Name Is Spaz
by newsiesfreak101
Summary: Ida Spaz Williams decides to become a newsie to help support her very ill mother. She wants everything to work out, but when you pretend to be a boy, get beat up by the very feared Spot, and fall in love with someone along the way, what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

"Don't worry guys! This is only temporary, and I will see you on Sundays!" I said, trying to comfort my family.  
I was going to be leaving home for a little while even though I was only fourteen because my mom was sick in the hospital. Even with my dad working two jobs we could not seem to afford all the treatments she needed, so I was off to get myself a job. Starting today I was going to be a newsie.

"We'll miss ya Ida," My little sister whispered.

"Yeah," My other sister piped in.

"Of course you will! Who can resist me?" I laughed and patted her on the head.

"Ida remember what we talked about," My dad instructed, "Hide your hair in your cap, pretend to be a boy, stay at the Manhattan lodging house, and if you have a single bit of trouble come right back here"

"Don't worry dad, I'll be good. See ya guys. I love ya," I smiled before walking out of our apartment and down the stairs to the hard work ahead of me.

The reason my dad was letting me do this is because we were desperate and proud. We don't take charity around here. Every Sunday I had to come back to visit my mother in the hospital, so she would think everything was normal. If she found out I was blowing off school for her she would throw a fit. Turning the corner, I pulled my cap on and straightened my borrowed clothes. If only I could wear pants everyday! It was so freeing! After walking for about fifteen minutes I spotted the newsboy's lodging house that seemed fairly welcoming. I walked inside to find what I expected. A bunch of loud boys playing some card game and probably drinking.

"Can I help you?" a tall boy said stepping in front of me, who looked to be around eighteen.

"You might actually. I was thinkin' 'bout stayin' here," I nervously replied hoping my voice was not to high to pass as a guys.

"Heya Cowboy. Who's dis kid?" A short Italian boy with a cigar in his mouth smiled walking up.

"I'm, uh, Chris," I lied quickly.

The boy they called Cowboy said, "Alright, Chris your a newsie. I'll get ya all signed in. Racetrack show the kid around."

"You got it boss," Racetrack chuckled.

"Heya boys! We got a new one! Dis is Chris," Racetrack shouted.

Suddenly, the room was filled with a lot of noise as everyone tried to get a good look at me. Thankfully, I am not the girlies looking person you have ever seen with my medium height, brown eyes to match my brown hair, and splash of freckles across my nose. Rather quickly I was introduced to Skittery, Crutchy, Bumlets, Pie Eater, Da Walkin' Mouth (who preferred to be called David), Les, Kid Blink, Specs, Mush, and a bunch of other people including girls. Most of the girls there were the newsies "goils" and the girl newsies were mostly from the Bronx and Queens because Brooklyn didn't like being outdone by girls, and Manhattan didn't have a girl's lodging house.

"Chris you need a nickname!" Cowboy declared enthusiasticly after all the introductions.

"I'm fine with Chris," I mumbled.

"They don't care," David laughed shaking his head.

I felt bad for him because he did not seem to like his nickname at all. All the other guys tried to come up with nicknames for me but nothing would fit.

"Guess we'll have ta wait till we know you a bit better," Racetrack shrugged.

I laughed, "Guess so."

"Hey, Cowboy wanted me to show you your bunk," The adorable Les smiled pulling at my sleeve.

"Really? He does?" I beamed down at him.

He reminded me a lot of my little sisters.

"Yeah! Cowboy trusts me," He stated proudly, "I even got to help out with the strike!"

"That is really cool kid," I laughed ruffling his hair, "How bouts you show me my bunk now."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs into a messy room filled with bunks. That one's yours," Les said pointing at a bunk under the window.

"Thanks," I smiled.

Picking up the small bag of belongings I brought I smiled. So far things were working out fairly well. Les ran back downstairs and I sorted through my things and then just laid down and crashed right away.

"Wake up you lazy bones! It's your first day!" A boy named Mush yelled as he shook me.

I groaned and turned over making sure my hat was still on, partially because I was tired and partially because he did not have a shirt on (not saying that it bothered me at all though).

"You'se sleep with that on?" He asked.

"Course, it's my lucky hat," I lied quickly, there was nothing lucky about a hat my dad found in the middle of the road.

"Change of plans!" Cowboy (or as I just realized was also called Jack) yelled walking into the room, "Today we got us a party in Brooklyn! Sell your papes quick today boys!"

"What we celebratin, Jack?" The hilarious cripple, Crutchy, asked.

"We're celebrating the third month anniversary of the strike's success!" Jack yelled which was followed by whoops and hollers from all the boys around me.

"Ya need help sellin your papes?" Kid Blink asked me as everyone started to file out of the room.

"I bet. Haven't sold a thing in my life," I sighed.

"Well I'll help ya out. The first rule to bein a newsie, headlines don't sell papes, newsies sell papes," He responded.

I laughed, "This sounds hard!"

After selling papes for three hours I was finally finished for the day. Being a newsie was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I almost got run over by a carriage, lied about the headlines to a bunch of people (although I was pretty darn good at it!), and the only good thing about it was that now there was money jingling around in my pocket. Thankfully, it was all over for the day and Kid Blink and I were heading back to the lodging house to meet the rest of the newsies before we headed over to Brooklyn.

"Why is Brooklyn hosting the party," I said making conversation.

Kid Blink laughed, "Brooklyn sure knows how to throw a good party. Especially, Spot."

"Spot?" I asked.

Kid Blink stopped short and openly gasped at me, "You don't know who Spot Conlon is?"

I shook my head. This was weird, was I supposed to know this guy?

"He's only the most feared and respected newsie in all of New York! He's the leader of the Brooklyn newsies!" Kid Blink laughed

I stared a him with a blank look on my face.

"Spot's the leader of Brooklyn?" I responded.

"You catch on fast kid," Kid Blink chuckled, "No wonder your from Manhattan"

I laughed loudly at this.

"Course I do!"

"Sure, keep telling yourself that," Kid Blink smiled.

We had just neared the lodging house when Race, well, raced up to us.

"Come on ya slowpokes, we gonna miss da party! Get your butts to Brooklyn pronto!"

"Someone's a bit to excited to play some cards," I chortled.

"Yeah, I bet ya get sick of beatin us," Kid Blink stated.

Race and I just laughed as the rest of the newsies started to walk up to Brooklyn with us.

It didn't take us to long to get to the Brooklyn's lodging house. It was already packed with boys drinking, playing cards, and laughing. I wasn't much of a party person, but I supposed I could watch Race crush some people at poker. As soon as we walked in I started to cough from all the smoke.

"Chris, I gotta introduce ya to Spot," Jack said running up to me.

"Why?" I asked worried.

"Nothin bad, you should just meet him. You'se bein a new newsie and all," He responded.

I let myself be dragged through the crowd of boys and up to a handsome newsie who seemed to have had more than a few drinks.

"Heya Jackie boy," Spot smirked.

I tripped over a bottle on the floor and almost fell on top of him, but thankfully I caught myself.

"Heya Spaz," Spot's smirk widened.

Jack started howling with laughter when he heard this.

"Spaz! That fits you perfectly!" He laughed hysterically.

Apparently, my new name was Spaz. Thank you Spot Conlon.


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot this before! **

** Disclaimer- I do not own the newsies or any of the characters besides Ida (Spaz) and her family.**

** Enjoy and plz review!**

I glared directly at Spot while Jack continued to laugh his head off, which I hope would happen sometime soon.

"What Spaz? You don't like the nickname," Spot replied his words slurred together.

Looks like Spot had a bit to many drinks for real.

"Not really," I honestly answered.

When Spot heard this he slammed down his drink (finally!) and Jack stopped laughing. The whole place went deathly quite as Spot marched up to me. He glared down at me and looked to be about an inch taller. I'm not going to lie, now I was shivering my head off.

"Wha did you'se just say to me," He shouted.

I knew it was stupid and probably would get me killed but I said it anyway, "I said I don't like da nickname you gave me."

"Oh do you now," His breath stank with the smell of alcohol.

"Um...Spot he didn't mean it," Jack said stepping in between us.

Suddenly, Spot pushed Jack away and picked me up by the collar. Before anyone could come to my aid (although probably no one would with Spot there) Spot had thrown me against the wall, pulled out his cane, and hit me over the head with it. The whole room gasped as I tried to push myself up. The pain was horrible and blood was spewing from the gash in my head. I felt worse than I ever had in my life and tears streamed down my cheeks mixing in with the blood. I didn't understand why they were all staring at me like that, I mean didn't Spot beat up guys all the time being the leader of Brooklyn and all. Suddenly, I moved my hand up to rest on my head and realized that the hat was not there anymore. My long hair was hanging down around my face. Even through Spot's drunkenness I could see he was shocked. Although, these boys were rough and tough, they never beat up girls, and now there leader just had. Everyone was so shocked that I had time to groggily get up and run out the door. I felt light headed and stopped to be sick more than once. Since it was night time no one noticed the scared, bloody, girl running aimlessly through the streets of Brooklyn.

"Chris! Chris!"

I turned around to see Racetrack sprinting after me. Finally, my injury caught up to me and I collapsed into his arms.

While I was unconscious I had horrible nightmares about Spot hurting me and my laughing manically the whole time.

I woke up to fell someones hand brushing back my hair to look at my wound. My eyes fluttered open and my heart almost stopped beating as I saw the one person who truly haunted my nightmares looming over me. One of his eyes was a disgusting blueish yellow, and he had bags under his eyes probably from lack of sleep. I saw it was the middle of the night and all the boys were in their bunks. I scrambled backwards trying to protect my face.

Only one word escaped my lips, "No, No, No, No."

"I'm not gonna-" Spot started but was cut off by my scream.

I shrieked so loud that every single boy was on his feet in a second tops. Spot disappeared as quietly as I supposed he had come, and all the boys clustered around my bed.

"Spa-, Chri-, um whatever ya name is are you alright," Jack said worriedly.

"Course she's not alright she was just screamin her head off," Racetrack yelled.

Everyone else just looked at me, need of sleep, and worry clear on their faces.

"Spot, Spot was just there, Ow," I cried and my hand flew up to my head which was now expertly bandaged.

"Don't worry Spot won't hurt ya no more. He wouldn't of done that if he knew you'se was a goil," Racetrack comforted me.

"Yeah, he was pretty upset. He's never hit a goil in his life. That's his one rule ova in Brooklyn. Yah hit a goil and ya in trouble," Crutchy said.

My thoughts wondered to Spot's black eye. Did he get that because of me?

"I think it's time you told us about yourself," Jack stated.

I sighed, "It's not the most exciting story."

"Well we need ta hear it anyway," Jack said suddenly stern.

"Fine. My name is Ida Williams. My mom is very ill and in the hospital with a life threatening disease, and my dad has been working double shifts for ova a month and we still can't pay for everything she needs and still support us and my two sisters. I decided to go out and make some money to try and help him, and the only way he would let me go is if I pretended to be a boy because he thought it would be the safest. Obviously, it didn't keep me the safest," I grimaced, "I also have to visit my ma every Sunday so she still thinks I'm going to school. She would kill me if she found out I was ditching school to try and help her. That's my story I guess."

The boys were silent and looked at me with understanding. I guess we all had been through similar things in these hard times.

"Everythin will be ok Spa-, Ida," Jack said reassuringly.

"Ya might as well call me Spaz if that's what you say every time you try and say my name," I laughed weakly, "And can I still stay here?"

I looked up at the boys using the cutest puppy-dog face known to man-kind.

"If you wanna," Jack sighed, "but how are you going to deal with Spot, and having privacy bein the only goil in a house full of boys."

"I can manage," I yawned.

"Okay, get some sleep now," Racetrack patted me on the back.

I didn't need to hear anything more before I fell into a deep sleep, still troubled by images of Spot Conlon.

**I will update soon! And sooner with reviews! :)**


	3. Mush is a Purple Flamingo?

**Disclaimer- I only own Spaz and the plot!**

**Pleas enjoy and review!**

"Ya sure you wanna do this," Jack asked as we approached the place where the newsies got their papers.

Doing my best to look determined I nodded at him. Only a week ago I had been beat up by Spot Conlon, and trust me it was not my favorite thing in the world. It had taken me three days to be able to stand on my feet again without being lightheaded, and I still needed to wear the bandage on my head. The only time I had left the lodging house afterwards was to see my mother. Thank heavens my family knows of my spazziness and it didn't take long to convince them I had fallen down the stairs.

"Okay, you need anything just give me a holler," Jack said, patting me on the back before disappearing into the crowd to talk to David with a worried look in his face. I would have to remember to ask him what was bothering him. Making sure my cap was secure I marched into line to get my papers. I could have not worn my cap and probably gotten more sympathy, but I didn't want all the attention. As long as I kept my cap on, less people would point and yell about how I was the girl who got beat up by the King of Brooklyn. I felt bad for Spot really because I cost him his reputation and possibly his respect.

"Heya Spaz. I'll cover your papes today," Racetrack yelled coming up behind me.

I smiled at him, "Thanks Race. Your da best."

Even though it was kind of gross I forced myself to spit shake with the guy, and when he wasn't looking I wiped my hand off on my pants. Ewwwww. Racetrack handed me a stack of papers, and we filed out with the rest of the newsies to the lovely day ahead of us. Lovely, as in we might make a few bucks and not get beat up by drunk newsies.

I sold my papers so much faster than I thought I would have thanks to my injury. Turns out that if you have bandage you get more business. I think I now understand the Kid Blink method. Speaking of Kid Blink he was walking up to me with Mush as I was heading back to the lodging house. They were deep in a conversation, and I could not help overhearing.

"So then she called me a purple flamingo and said she never wanted to see me again!" Mush yelled.

Kid Blink replied, "Well when you get that annoying what is she supposed to say? You amazing person?"

I laughed and walked up to them, "Girl troubles, eh?" (I feel Canadian!)

Mush sighed and had this adorable puppy dog look on his face, "I was being over protective, but only because I love her so much more than she knows! She's the reason I'm alive! The only one for me, and I would do anything to get her to be mine forever!"

"Oh you mushy over romantic," Kid Blink smiled, "Spaz your a girl! What should he do?"

"Tell her exactly what you just said to us, kiss her on the lips, apologize, and I bet she will fall head-over-heels for you all over again," I replied while channeling my inner guru of love.

"I will! I'm gonna go to her place right this second! See ya guys later!"Mush yelled before sprinting down the street.

"Looks like I lost my lunch date, ya wanna come with me to Tibby's?" Kid Blink asked.

Tibby's was one of the newsies favorite hang-outs, and now that I had my own money how could I resist.

"I would be most honored," I snickered before linking arms with him.

He laughed, "You're a funny girl Spaz"

I nodded in response before skipping off to Tibby's to buy the cheapest thing on the menu with him.

As soon as we walked in I stiffened. How had I not anticipated this? Spot Conlon was sitting off in the corner with a few other newsies. Kid Blink felt my fear and looked at me before, well, spotting Spot.

"It's okay Spaz. He can't hurt you, and he won't," Kid Blink reassured me.

I relaxed for half a second before Spot spotted me. His cold grey-blue eyes locked on mine, and suddenly the room got awkwardly quiet. I'm talking awkward turtle to the max! I couldn't take it anymore, so I turned and ran as fast as my legs would carry me back towards the lodging house. I looked behind me after hearing foot steps coming after me. Thinking it was Kid Blink or Racetrack I stopped, but of course it had to be Spot himself. He saw I was about to take off running again, so he grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me! Please!" I whimpered.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Spot muttered.

"I'm so sorry!" I responded.

Spot's face registered shock, "Your sorry? For what!"

"I ruined your reputation!" I said close to tears.

"I beat the crud outta you, scared you outta your mind, caused you to blow your cover, and your sorry about my reputation!" Spot replied now screaming.

I never cry, but suddenly tears just started to flow out of me.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I blubbered in between sobs.

Spot looked stressed now that I was crying which just sent me into a new round of sobs.

"Don't cry. Come on. I'm the one who should be beggin for your forgiveness, not you," Spot said patting me on the back.

"Spot! What did ya do to her!" I heard Race yelling.

Race ran up to me and Spot and got in front of me.

"I wasn't doin nothin! I was just tryin to apoligize and she started to cry!" Spot yelled in defense.

"You obviously did somethin to make her cry!" Race shouted back.

"No! It's my fault! I'm sorry!" I yelled.

"Stop apologizing to me!" Spot growled.

Thankfully, I ran out of tears and just started to sniffle.

"Don't yell at her for sayin sorry!" Race yelled.

"She said it like fifty times now. Look I'm the one who is sorry, and Nothing was your fault. I hope someday you can forgive me, and I never hit goils so this was a first. Maybe I will see ya around," Spot sincerely said looking at me before walking away, his cane glinting in the moonlight.

"You okay," Race worriedly asked looking at me.

I smiled, "Race your always there for me. Thanks," I said before giving him a big hug.

"No prob Spaz. Never had a girl that is my friend like you before," He laughed.

We walked back to the lodging house together listening to him crack jokes about everything he could think of. Although, I never would feel comfortable around Spot again at least I wouldn't fear for my life.

**Spaz was a bit of a crybaby, but she's not a crybaby all the time! Please review and tell me what you like or what I can improve on! Thanks for reading!**


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